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THE GALLERY: An Introduction to Illuminated Manuscripts Illuminated manuscripts are hand-produced books that include drawn, painted, and gilded decoration on pages made of vellum, a specially prepared and polished animal skin. The simplest manuscripts are adorned with calligraphic penwork dividing one paragraph of text from another. More lavish examples are embellished with historiated initials, enlarged and colorful letters that contain tiny representations of figures or biblical scenes. The
brilliant pictures that illustrate and accompany the texts in a manuscript
are called miniatures, not only because they are small, but because the
Latin word miniare (to color with red lead) has been Historically,
illuminated manuscripts were produced by monks Leaves
of Gold is organised into five sections that highlight several major |
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GALLERY | LEARNING CENTER | ABOUT THE EXHIBITION | HOME Leaves of Gold is a collaborative exhibition organized by the Philadelphia Museum of Art and the Philadelphia Area Consortium of Special Collections Libraries. All materials on this site are copyright 2001 the Philadelphia Museum of Art except as indicated herein. |